The present disclosure relates to a painting device for painting components, e.g., for painting motor vehicle bodies or parts thereof. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to an associated method for manufacturing, testing and/or installing a painting device.
In modern painting facilities for painting motor vehicle bodies, use is made of multi-axis painting robots which have as the application device for example a rotary atomizer. In this case, the painting robot is actuated by a robot controller which is usually arranged outside the painting booth in a control cabinet and is connected to the painting robot during installation of the painting facility. Furthermore, the various supply lines for the media necessary for operation of the painting robot (e.g. compressed air, paints, flushing agents) must also be connected during installation of the painting robot. These conventional painting facilities have various disadvantages, as will be discussed below.
On the one hand, the connection of the painting robot during the final installation requires a considerable outlay on staff, which increases the installation costs. Furthermore, a certain installation time is also required, which in the event of retrofitting an existing painting facility gives rise to a corresponding retrofitting time and downtime of the painting facility, which may lead to production losses.
On the other hand, mistakes in the connection to the robot controller or in the connection of the supply lines may occur during the final installation of the painting robot, so that the painting robot must undergo a complicated functional test after the final installation, the retrofitting time and the corresponding downtime of the painting facility being extended by the time required for testing.
Furthermore, with regard to the prior art, reference may be made to DE 92 12 718 U1, DE 29 15 603 C2, DE 691 02 353 T2, DE 44 30 234 A1 and DE 696 29 246 T2.
Accordingly, there is a need for a suitably improved painting device and an associated method.
On the one hand, it is desirable to reduce the installation time necessary for the final installation of the painting robot at the customer's premises, which leads to a correspondingly shortened downtime of the painting facility.
On the other hand, the exemplary illustrations below aim where possible to avoid installation errors during the final installation of the painting robot in the painting facility.
This object is achieved by a painting device according to the exemplary illustrations below and by a corresponding method.